Pezeshkian advisor says Iran suffered damage but gained in global standing during war

Iran International’s reporting was followed by political backlash in Ottawa, international coverage and Mehdi Taj being turned back within hours of landing in Canada.

Speaking to Iran International’s Eye for Iran, Melissa Lantsman, deputy leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, said the case raised serious questions about who approved Mehdi Taj’s entry and why.

“We need to know who did it, when it happened, how it happened, why it happened, and why it’s never going to happen again,” Lantsman said.

Taj, president of Iran’s football federation, had been expected to travel to Vancouver for the FIFA Congress on April 30 at the Vancouver Convention Center.

Iran International previously reported that Taj was issued a Temporary Resident Permit, or TRP, a tool that allows Canadian authorities to admit a person who would otherwise be barred under immigration law.

Canada listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity in 2024, making people linked to the force inadmissible. Taj has longstanding ties to the Islamic Republic’s security establishment and previously served as an intelligence commander in the IRGC in Isfahan.

Lantsman said the permit showed that the issue was not simply a screening failure.

“Somebody actively made this decision to circumvent our own rules,” she said.

“I can’t believe that I work in a place with a minister who would issue a terrorist a permit.”

Taj was able to board a flight to Canada and land in Vancouver. He was sent back within hours, after Iran International’s reporting on the case had already become public.

That sequence has become central to the political fallout in Ottawa. Critics say the government acted only after the case drew public attention, while ministers have declined to discuss details, citing privacy rules.

Lantsman rejected that explanation in the podcast interview.

“We don’t give privacy to terrorists,” she said. “There is no privacy to people who are inadmissible to our country.”

• 

  Iran football chief with IRGC ties sent back by Canada after arrival

• 

  Ottawa on defensive after Iran football chief linked to IRGC entered Canada

The issue quickly reached Parliament.

Opposition MPs pressed ministers to explain how a person barred under Canada’s own rules received permission to enter the country.

At Thursday’s meeting of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in Ottawa, Conservative MP Frank Caputo asked Immigration Minister Lena Diab how a person deemed inadmissible had been granted entry.

Caputo said “the rule of law demands transparency” and asked “who gave him a visa,” saying Iran International’s reporting had brought the case to public attention.

Prime Minister Mark Carney declined to comment on Taj’s case, citing privacy laws, but defended the government’s position on the IRGC.

“Members of the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guard rightly have been prohibited from entering this country and they will not enter this country,” he said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand suggested the permit may have been granted and later revoked, saying her understanding was that “there is a revocation of the permission” and that “it was unintentional.”

Lantsman said that response only deepened the need for answers.

“If they unintentionally gave him a permit, then we need to know how that happened and why it happened,” she said. “And if the unintentionality of it was about the revocation, that’s even worse.”

The controversy has turned a single immigration decision into a broader political test of Canada’s handling of officials tied to the Islamic Republic.

Although Canada has formally banned the IRGC, Temporary Resident Permits allow authorities to override inadmissibility in certain cases. Taj’s case has raised questions about how such exceptions are approved and what safeguards exist when national security concerns are involved.

The controversy also comes as anger continues over the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on protests in January, with the IRGC at the center of the state response. Rights groups and Iranian activists have described the violence as among the deadliest episodes in modern Iranian history.

At least three Iranian footballers have been killed during the unrest. Ali Karimi, Iran’s former national team captain, has criticized FIFA’s silence and called on the organization to condemn the killing of athletes and speak out against the crackdown.

Lantsman said the opposition has submitted formal questions in Parliament and would continue pressing the government for details.

“This cannot happen,” she said. “We’re going to continue to keep the pressure on.”

The case has also drawn wider attention beyond Canada. The New York Times, USA Today, Agence France-Presse and The Canadian Press have covered the incident, citing Iran International’s reporting.

For Lantsman, the central issue remains who approved the permit and why.

“Somebody in Canada, somebody very high up in the ministry, decides that it’s in public interest of Canada to have this person here,” she said.

The government has yet to publicly identify who authorized the permit, why it was issued, or what measures are being taken to prevent a similar case.

Iran’s internet blackout has entered its tenth week, with the country largely cut off from global networks, internet monitor NetBlocks said.

The group said the disruption has reached more than 60 days of near-total isolation, with connectivity in some periods falling to about 1% of normal levels.

NetBlocks said the shutdown has been accompanied by a crackdown on circumvention tools, including restrictions on VPNs and satellite internet terminals.

The blackout intensified after strikes by the United States and Israel on February 28, and has continued despite a ceasefire, leaving most Iranians without access to the global internet.

An India-linked supertanker carrying cooking fuel is attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz, a rare move that highlights pressure on energy supplies, Bloomberg reported.

The Marshall Islands-flagged Sarv Shakti, loaded with about 45,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas, was seen moving northward through the waterway on Saturday, according to ship-tracking data cited by Bloomberg.

The vessel appeared to pass near Iran’s Larak and Qeshm islands and head toward the Gulf of Oman, the report said.

The transit comes amid disruptions linked to the conflict in the region, as countries face challenges securing fuel supplies.

The judiciary’s media center said Yaghoub Karimpour and Nasser Bekrzadeh were hanged in Urmia Central Prison following legal proceedings.

The hangings come as authorities continue to carry out daily executions, taking place against the backdrop of a fragile ceasefire following the conflict that erupted on Feb. 28.

Authorities said Karimpour, a law graduate from Miandoab and a member of the Yarsan religious minority, maintained contact with Mossad and transmitted sensitive information. Rights group Hengaw said Karimpour was arrested in connection with the 12-day war between Iran and Israel last June.

The judiciary said Bekrzadeh, a 26-year-old Kurdish political prisoner, gathered and sent information on key locations, including the Natanz nuclear site, after he was recruited online.

• 

  Iran executes former atomic agency employee over alleged spying for Israel

• 

  Iran refuses to return body of executed teen protester to family

• 

  Iran executes protester over January uprising

Hengaw said Bekrzadeh’s death sentence was upheld in a fast-track process. "His death sentence was confirmed within just 10 days for the third time by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court and communicated to him on April 25," the group said.

Hengaw expressed concern over the transfer of the men and a third prisoner, 27-year-old Kurdish man Mehrab Abdollahzadeh, to execution cells under "vague pretexts." Abdollahzadeh was arrested during the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests and sentenced to death on charges of armed rebellion.

"Hengaw warns of the serious and immediate danger of the execution of these three prisoners. Hengaw emphasizes that Nasser Bekrzadeh, Yaghoub Karimpour, and Mehrab Abdollahzadeh were sentenced to death in completely non-transparent processes, under torture, and without access to a fair trial," the group said.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said this week Iran has executed at least 21 people and arrested more than 4,000 on national security charges since the start of the latest conflict in February.

"I am appalled that — on top of the already severe impacts of the conflict — the rights of the Iranian people continue to be stripped from them by the authorities, in harsh and brutal ways," Turk said.

Statements have intensified following a message for National Persian Gulf Day attributed to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

In the message, he described the strait as a “strategic asset” and outlined a vision for the region’s future as “a future without America,” emphasizing the importance of “Iranian management of the strait.”

Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf signaled the shift most clearly, linking current policy to both strategic doctrine and historical precedent.

“Today as well, by exercising management over the Strait of Hormuz, Iran will ensure that it and its neighbors enjoy the valuable prospect of a future free from the presence and interference of America,” he wrote on X.

In a separate English-language post, he mocked the feasibility of a US naval blockade, sharing a map of the United States and arguing that even drawing walls from coast to coast would still fall short of Iran’s total border length.

“If you build two walls, one from New York to the West Coast and another from Los Angeles to the East Coast, the total length will still be about 1,000 kilometers shorter than Iran’s borders,” he wrote. “Good luck blockading a country with those borders.”

The tougher messaging comes as Washington pursues a strategy of sustained economic pressure, including a naval blockade aimed at restricting Iran’s oil exports. The Strait of Hormuz—through which roughly a fifth of global oil supply passes—has become the central point of confrontation in the standoff.

Reports from US media suggest the Trump administration is seeking international backing for a maritime coalition to secure shipping routes, while also rejecting Iranian proposals to reopen the strait as part of interim negotiations.

Masoud Foroughi, deputy managing editor of the conservative newspaper Farhikhtegan, described Khamenei’s message as more than routine rhetoric, calling it a “strategic signal” and arguing that it rejects the idea—raised by some in Tehran—that the strait could be used as a bargaining chip.

Other officials struck an even harder line. Deputy parliament speaker Ali Nikzad said the strait “must not return to its previous state,” while describing it as Iran’s “atomic bomb”—a remark underscoring its perceived strategic leverage.

Friday prayer leaders reinforced the message. Ahmad Alamolhoda, the Supreme Leader’s representative in Khorasan-e Razavi, said negotiations with the United States amount to surrender and argued that control over the strait allows Iran to “deal with the world” without talks.

In Tehran, interim Friday prayer leader Mohammad-Javad Haj Ali-Akbari said the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz are not only non-negotiable but will operate under a “new legal regime” shaped by Iran and regional partners.

Yet the rhetoric has not been entirely uniform, and diplomatic contacts have not entirely ceased.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that Tehran submitted a new proposal to the United States via a Pakistani intermediary this week, underscoring the dual track of pressure and limited engagement.

President Masoud Pezeshkian also struck a more measured tone, warning against the continuation of a blockade while reaffirming Iran’s commitment to freedom of navigation and maritime safety—except for hostile countries.

“Any effort to impose a naval blockade or maritime restrictions in the Persian Gulf is contrary to international law and a threat to the interests of regional nations and global peace and stability,” he said, adding that responsibility for any insecurity would lie with the United States and Israel.

Even as some voices warn of the risks of prolonged confrontation, the dominant message from Tehran’s political, clerical and media circles is that control over the strait is a red line rather than a negotiating tool.

That stance suggests that, despite mounting economic and military pressure, Tehran is seeking to redefine the Strait of Hormuz not as leverage—but as a fixed pillar of its regional strategy.